{"id":83476,"date":"2020-02-03T20:10:10","date_gmt":"2020-02-03T20:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandbox.web.rcn.net\/rcntv\/?p=83476"},"modified":"2023-04-12T21:46:45","modified_gmt":"2023-04-12T21:46:45","slug":"hs-basketball-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/hs-basketball-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"HS Basketball “Awards”"},"content":{"rendered":"

The views expressed in this blog are<\/em> those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Keith Groller and I recently gave our takes on the Lehigh Valley high school basketball season on \u201cSportsTalk<\/a>,\u201d along with (some of) the following different categories for this season.<\/p>\n

As we approach the final few weeks of the regular season, here\u2019s a sample of some of our responses to these topics.<\/p>\n

1) Team to Beat in the EPC<\/a> & Colonial Leagues<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>In what should be a great winter basketball season with lots of quality teams, you have to give the nod to the defending District XI<\/a> 6A champion Allen Canaries<\/a>.\u00a0 They have most of their core returning and haven\u2019t hurt themselves with their summer performances and could repeat–although they probably will have tougher competition come playoff time.<\/p>\n

In the Colonial League, I put my money on Southern Lehigh<\/a> to repeat again this year.\u00a0 They feature too much talent not to successfully retain their title.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

2) \u201cSurprise\u201d Team<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Bethlehem Catholic<\/a><\/p>\n

I know what you\u2019re thinking–how can one of the premiere basketball teams and a perennial state playoff team be considered a \u2018surprise?\u2019\u00a0 But consider, the Hawks lost perhaps the two best players (a point guard and a 6\u201910\u201d center, no less) in the Lehigh Valley, yet hardly missed a beat, including incorporating two new players, both 6\u20196\u201d and both can shoot, play inside and on the perimeter, defend, rebound…you name it.<\/p>\n

Plus, the returning supporting cast looked good–especially having the rock and filling in the large departed shoes of Justin Paz.\u00a0 You lose the players Becahi lost to graduation and you most certainly would have expected some semblance of a step back–at least to start.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

3) Most Intriguing Team to Watch<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Nazareth<\/a><\/p>\n

Another team that lost a ton to graduation–although they were incredibly inconsistent last season, but Joe Arndt\u2019s kids have been working hard this offseason and he is VERY high on the incoming players.<\/p>\n

4) MVP<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This was not an easy topic to answer and the term \u201cMVP\u201d sometimes can be open to different interpretations…you might want to listen to our podcast to hear my entire \u201cthought process\u201d for this one.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

5) Biggest Question Mark This Winter<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I saw Freedom<\/a> six times in a row last January and, during that stretch, no team looked better–especially defensively.\u00a0 After that three week stretch I didn\u2019t see Freedom again until the final week of the regular season, and, by that time, they had fallen from the #3 seed to a #9 seed and failed to qualify for the league playoffs and were non-factors in district.<\/p>\n

This year, I\u2019ve once again had the opportunity to announce a number of Freedom games and, once again, they\u2019ve looked impressive–but have had trouble getting over the hump in winning big games.<\/p>\n

What happened last year?\u00a0 Can they avoid a similar fate over the next few weeks?\u00a0 We\u2019ll delve into the Patriots\u2019 psyche as Head Coach Joe Stellato and members of his team (including the Mims brothers–both of whom eclipsed the 1,000 point plateau this month) will be in-studio guests on Thursday\u2019s \u201cSportsTalk\u201d program.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

6) Underclassman to Watch<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Allen\u2019s Nate Ellis<\/p>\n

The freshman may have made some early season \u201cninth grade\u201d mistakes, but he looked awfully impressive down the stretch, guiding his team to a championship.\u00a0 Nate\u2019s ceiling is already pretty high but certainly he has the potential to go down as one of the best point guard all-time in the rich Allentown basketball history books.\u00a0 Should be a great story to watch over the next several seasons.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

7) Most Anticipated Colonial League Playoff Matchup<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Notre Dame<\/a> at Southern Lehigh.<\/p>\n

The defending Colonial League champs against the team with the most incoming talent…couldn\u2019t get much better than this.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

8) Most Anticipated EPC Playoff Matchup<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Parkland<\/a> vs. Allen.<\/p>\n

Parkland, after having some issues during the regular season, came on strong late and played the Canaries tough in districts during Allen\u2019s great run.\u00a0 Would love to see what the Trojans can do with a full year of consistency in the rematch between these two schools.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

9)\u00a0 New Head Coach with Biggest Impact<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

We had a chance to interview the Lehigh Valley\u2019s new coaches on \u201cSportsTalk\u201d recently.\u00a0 Why don\u2019t you watch those interviews and tell me your thoughts to this topic by emailing me at chris.michael@rcn.net<\/a><\/u> ?\u00a0 I\u2019d love to hear your opinions!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company.\u00a0 Keith Groller and I recently gave our takes on the Lehigh Valley high school basketball season on \u201cSportsTalk,\u201d along with (some of) the following…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"Yoast SEO Relevanssi index exclude","inline_featured_image":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-sportstalk-shop"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHS Basketball "Awards" - 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